Reassessing the status of the Portuguese in East Timor as a non-dominant variety

Last May (22-24), I attended the 11^th Conference on Pluricentric Languages and their Non-Dominant Varieties, with the title Pluricentric Languages and Power: At the Crossroads of Legacies, held at the Iscte - University Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal (the main page of the conference can be accessed here). There, I presented my paper called: Reassessing the status of the Portuguese in East Timor as a non-dominant variety, which can be seen in the conference programme here.

According to the conference organizing committee, the papers presented will be published in a book by PCL-Press, probably next year, and I will promote and share here in the future, as soon as I have the material available or further information. 
For now, I share the abstract and keywords of the paper presented:

ABSTRACT

In 2002, the Democratic Republic of East Timor gained its independence. In this same year, the nation chose Portuguese as one of its official languages, together with Tétum Praça, also called Tetum Dili, an Austronesian language that serves as a lingua franca in the country. In addition to Tetum, Portuguese coexists with other local languages of Austronesian and Papuan origins. The present work is based on recent studies about the Portuguese spoken by Timorese people, which is considered an emergent variety (Albuquerque, 2011) or a non-dominant variety in its initial stage (Afonso & Goglia, 2015; Batoréo, 2016) as well as original data collected by the author, and a bibliographical review on non-dominant variety typology (Clyne, 1992; Muhr, 2005, 2012). It is worth mentioning that some linguists do not classify Portuguese spoken in East Timor as a local or national variety, but only as a Portuguese L2/ Foreign Language. The purpose of this work is to discuss and assess whether Portuguese language spoken in East Timor is a non-dominant variety or not based on the theoretical framework of pluricentric languages and non-dominant varieties, particularly their typology, general features, language situation, and status (Muhr, 2012), to display evidence to the existence (or not) and to classify it as a possible Timorese Portuguese variety. The methodology combines an old corpus of data, previously collected through extensive fieldwork and elaborated by the author, with more recent data, acquired employing remote elicitation (e.g., smartphone, social media, e-mail, apps). The preliminary results show that Portuguese in East Timor presents specific innovations (phonological, lexical, and morphosyntactic), which may be classified as a non-dominant variety under formation in the early stage; it lacks therefore recognition, positive attitude, and language policy by Timorese speakers and government. The main linguistic innovations of the Portuguese in East Timor are:

•  Phonetic-phonology: variation in specific segments, particularly palatal consonants, the labiodentals /f, v/, and the voiced alveolar /d/; metrical restrictions affecting stress and syllable structure, usually showing fixed stress on penultimate syllable and segment deletion to adapt to this pattern; and innovative intonational contours;

•   Lexical: lexical retentions, Tetum and Indonesian loanwords, and local semantic changes; 

•   Morphosyntactic: use of adverbs as pre-verbal markers marking tense, aspect, and mood information; the presence of é que ‘that is’ constructions; variation of copula; innovations in se ‘3.sg’ constructions; null subjects; and variable agreement. 

As for the non-dominant variety features, it is possible to mention that the status of the pluricentricity of Portuguese is denied by the presence of the dominant variety in the territory (European Portuguese), it awaits official and popular recognition, and it lacks appropriate formal status (Muhr, 2012). Furthermore, Portuguese in East Timor exhibits approximately 20 of the 27 general features of non-dominant varieties listed by Muhr (2012). Finally, I consider that Portuguese in East Timor can be classified as a non-dominant variety in its initial stage that must be further researched, in order to document it, and enhance its awareness and prestige among its speakers to develop as a local or national variety.

Keywords: Portuguese Language; Non-Dominant Variety; East Timor; Pluricentrism.               

  

References:

Afonso, S. & Goglia, F. (2015). Linguistic innovations in the immigration context as initial stages of a partially restructured variety: Evidence from SE constructions in the Portuguese of the East Timorese diaspora in Portugal. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 8(1), 1-33.

Albuquerque, D. (2011) O Português de Timor Leste: contribuição para o estudo de uma variedade emergente. Papia, 21(1), 65-82, 2011.

Batoréo, H. (2016). The contact induced partial restructuring of the non-dominating variety of Portuguese in East Timor. In R. Muhr (Ed.). Pluricentric Languages and Non-Dominant Varieties Worldwide.  Vol. 2. (pp. 137-152). Wien: Peter Lang Verlag.

Clyne, M. (Ed.). (1992). Pluricentric languages: Differing norms in different nations. Berlin/ New York: Walter de Gruyter.

Muhr, R. (2005). Language Attitudes and language conceptions non-dominating varieties of pluricentric languages. In R. Muhr (Ed.). Standardvariationen und Sprachideologien in verschiedenen Sprachkulturen der Welt (pp. 11-20). Wien: Peter Lang Verlag.

Muhr, R. (2012). Linguistic dominance and non-dominance in pluricentric languages: A typology. In R. Muhr (Ed.). Non-dominant Varieties of pluricentric Languages. Getting the Picture (pp. 23-48). Wien: Peter Lang Verlag.

THE LONG ROAD TOWARDS THE RECOGNITION OF A LOCAL VARIETY – THE ROLE OF SPEAKERS, SCHOLARS, AND GOVERNMENTS ON THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE IN EAST TIMOR

In October, I attended the conference called “Local varieties of standardized and nonstandardized languages: documentation and research issues”, which took place in Moscow (Russia), from October 23rd to 25th, organized by The Laboratory for Study and Preservation of Minority Languages, and commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Institute of Linguistics (RAS) and the 130th anniversary of the birth of Glafira Makarievna Vasilyevich, a distinguished researcher of Evenki dialects and culture. 

The event page can be accessed here, as well as the book of abstracts here. At this conference, I presented the work "The Long Road towards the Recognition of a Local Variety – The Role of Speakers, Scholars, and Governments on the Portuguese Language in East Timor", which can be watched in its full recorded session at this
link.

ABSTRACT

The Democratic Republic of East Timor became an independent nation in 2002. In this year, the country elected the Portuguese language as one of the official languages, together with Tetum Praça, also known as Tetum Dili, an Austronesian language that works as a lingua franca. Besides Tetum, Portuguese coexists with other local languages of Austronesian and Papuan origins. Furthermore, the same document states that English and Indonesian are considered working languages. As a former Portuguese colony, the Portuguese language was introduced into Timor at the beginning of the sixteenth century, but it was scarcely used or taught. This scenario changed only after the 1950s, with a slight growth in the number of Timorese learning and speaking, as a result of a policy of colonial social development. However, the Indonesian invasion (1975–1999), which imposed Indonesian language and culture, disrupted this situation in 1975. Due to investments and projects by Portuguese-speaking nations, primarily Portugal and Brazil, as well as non-governmental organisations, Portuguese has been taught as a second language in schools and universities since 2002, following East Timor’s independence. The majority of Timorese speak Tetum or another local language as their first language. One major outcome of these sociohistorical and linguistic events is that certain authors, such as Albuquerque (2024, forthcoming), support the idea that there are two types of Portuguese in the nation, which may be distinguished by their different grammars, one of which is based on European Portuguese and the other on the local variety. The study of the Portuguese spoken by Timorese remains scanty, and its status, controversial. While some authors consider it a non-dominant variety (Batoréo 2016), Albuquerque (2011, 2024) classifies it as an emergent variety in its early stages. However, this classification is very limited because the majority of its linguistic innovations and variations may also be analysed as L2 learning transferences (Afonso & Goglia 2015). This work aims to discuss the role of speakers (with a focus on language attitudes towards their local variety), scholars (and how their research findings and ideologies affect the population and the local variety itself), and governments (especially in the areas of foreign language instruction, language policies, and diplomacy) in the process of recognising and valuing the Portuguese spoken by Timorese as a local variety to further maintain and standardise it. The methodology involves combining more recent data obtained through remote elicitation (e.g., smartphone, social media, e-mail, apps) with an older corpus of data that was previously gathered through extensive fieldwork. Additionally, it makes use of the data that is currently available on earlier publications about East Timor and an online open-access corpus. Our investigation leads us to the conclusion that Timorese Portuguese is a local variety that is still developing. It exhibits a high degree of intra- and interpersonal variation, as well as linguistic innovations that are unique to East Timor and others that are common in other Portuguese-speaking nations. Timorese speakers’ prescriptivist, convergent, and romantic language attitudes (Albuquerque, 2022), academics who downplay the significance of its study or deny its recognition, 85, and national and foreign language policies that force the ideology and status of European languages on the populace are the obstacles to its recognition as a local Portuguese variety, a non-dominant variety. In light of these findings, it is necessary to conduct additional research on the Portuguese language in East Timor in order to document it and raise its status and awareness. In other words, there are a lot of things to be done, or a long road to be traversed to reach the local variety of Portuguese in East Timor. 

References: 

Afonso, S. & Goglia, F. (2015). Linguistic innovations in the immigration context as initial stages of a partially restructured variety: Evidence from SE constructions in the Portuguese of the East Timorese diaspora in Portugal. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 8(1), 1-33. 

Albuquerque, D. (2011). O Português de Timor Leste: contribuição para o estudo de uma variedade emergente. Papia, 21(1), 65-82. 

Albuquerque, D. (2022). O português como língua pluricêntrica e as atitudes linguísticas de falantes em Timor-Leste. Caderno Seminal Digital, 42, 326-360. 

Albuquerque, D. (2024). Evidências da formação da variedade do português falado em Timor-Leste: as categorias de tempo, modo e aspecto. In C. F. Pinto, M. Oliveira, C. Namiuti & M. Fagundes (ed.), Temas em Sócio-história e Léxico. Vol. 2. (pp. 113-138). Campinas: Mercado de Letras. 

Albuquerque, D. (forthcoming). The Portuguese language in contact in Timor – history, variation and the formation of an emergent variety. In T. Salzmann, S. Kriegel, R. Ludwig & C. Patzelt (ed.), Linguistic contact and Creoles in the Indian Ocean and beyond. Hamburg: Buske. 

Batoréo, H. (2016). The contact induced partial restructuring of the non-dominating variety of Portuguese in East Timor. In R. Muhr (ed.), Pluricentric Languages and Non-Dominant Varieties Worldwide. Vol. 2. (pp. 137-152). Wien: Peter Lang Verlag.